Comment: The panda in the picture looks fake to me, but I've found a one report online of someone actually calling the Chinese Airline in question and having them confirm it (which they did). According to the information I found, the Panda's name is Squee, and his caretaker is Fu Jiang Lang. Not sure though of anything else . . . Do you guys have any information?

Recognizing the colour scheme as China Airlines Airbus 787, I called their Public Relations department for an explanation. Unsurprisingly this picture is not unknown to them, and the sent me the press release that they had prepared: China Airlines is a proud corporate sponsor of the panda snactuary at Cheng Du and was happy to help out recently with the transfer of a young panda cub to a zoo in the United States of America. After extensive consultation with the Sanctury's veterinary staff it was concluded that the importance of the panda cub precluded it from traveling in the hold of the aircraft, where attending to its needs would be difficult. Thus China Airlines agreed to donate seats in its Business Traveler First cabin for the panda cub named Squee Squee and his carer, Fu Jiang Lang, seen here sitting in the window seat. In the interests of hygiene Squee Squee wore a plastic nappy to take care of pandapoop during the flight. We are happy to report that Squee Squee arrived rested and relaxed after his 14-hour flight, and is settling into his new home well. During the flight we can report that he didn't watch any of the flight movies as we couldn't find a headset big enough for him. He did order the bamboo from catering menu, with a side of bamboo, and bamboo mousse for desert.

Assuming the "Airbus" is being use to mean "airplane" and not a reference to the European airplane manufacture, since they do not produce a 787s. Then one has still go to question how it could be a Boeing 787, since none have been delivered to consumers.

I just want to point out that a panda sitting in an emergency exit row is probably not allowed, since said panda would likely be unable to comply with the instructions given to those passengers in the event of an accident.

Huh... and I thought it was just a really big stuffed animal that wouldn't fit into the suitcase, and they simply HAD to bring it back with them, so... uh... they bought it its own seat rather than pay postage from... um... China?

I just want to point out that a panda sitting in an emergency exit row is probably not allowed, since said panda would likely be unable to comply with the instructions given to those passengers in the event of an accident.

My google fu came up with a news item on a website called "Panting Panda - Everything a Panda Could Want". There was a story about EVA Air from 12/2008. Passenger tickets were sold, then retracted for the flight carrying two giant pandas from Sichuan Province. The decision to retract the tics was made "following complaints from animal rights groups, who said giant pandas are shy animals and could be frightened by crowds who wish to look at them." So maybe airflight not in the cargo area has been done before with pandas? But, the big news is this site also has a link to live camera feeds in different zoos. The San Diego Zoo has a mom and her newborn cub in the feed, at the top. I just watched the cub nurse, then mom gave hir a bath, then tucked hir back under her chin for the night. Awesome!

The other odd thing is that the Chinese characters on the exit sign say "非常口" which is the Japanese way of writing "Emergency Exit" not the Chinese which should say, "安全出口". Looks more like an ANA plane than a China Air.